Henry de GROUX (Brussels, 1866 - Marseille, 1930) Medea gathers the flowers born of Prometheus' blood Oil on canvas Signed 'Henry de Groux' lower right (Restorations) No frame Medea picks the flowers born of the blood of Prometheus, oil on canvas, signed, by H. de Groux 29.92 x39.37 in. 76.0 x 100.0 cm Provenance: M. Tahan Collection [mentioned in La Plume in 1899] ; Collection Gérard Lévy ; Then by descent Exhibitions: Esthètes et Magiciens / Symbolistes des collections parisiennes, Paris, Musée Galliera, December 1970 - January 1971, cat. no. 66: "Médée cueille les fleurs nées du sang de Prométhée" [label on reverse]. Bibliography: "Numéro spécial consacré à Henry de Groux", La Plume, no. 239-240, 1st - 15th April 1899. Texts by Léon Bloy, Léon Souguenet, Camille Lemonnier, Jules Destrée, Arsène Alexandre, Armand Dayot, Charles Buet, André Fontainas, William Ritter, Léon Maillard, Charles Morice, Charles Saunier, Marcel Batillat, Louis Gillet, Edouard Girard and the artist. Numerous illustrations and reproductions in black, described p. 77-78, mentioned p. 93: "Médée cueille les fleurs nées du sang de Prométhée, belongs to M. Tahan". "Prometheus, the thief of fire, is chastised on a rock, in the middle of a bloody Caspian: an ocean that is supposed to have reached cold altitudes, with all the colours of fire; the scarlets fight with the purples, the greens battle with the ochres, the blacks, defeated, retreat. White slime froths. Fire triumphs. These are the sublimities of colour that de Groux can achieve. He is still a painter on the stone itself. He has created astonishing figures. Prometheus is not bound to his rock by chains. His despondency rivets him to it. Eternally dazed and mouldering, he waits motionless for the fangs and claws of the vulture: he will not even lay his hands on the pink wound from which his exsanguinated entrails flow. With horror, he can make out the sound of approaching wings in the noise of the waves. But in his stubborn eyes lives a single idea: not to give in to the gods<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[1]</i></strong></a>." This eloquent description of our large canvas by the art historian Louis Gillet in 1899 conveys all the evocative power of Henry de Groux's work. Better known in France since the publication of his Journal by the INHA<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a>, the Belgian artist established himself as one of the most fascinating representatives of European Symbolism, through ambitious compositions featuring, as here, the great mythological or historical subjects, but also the masters of painting, literature and music, such as Delacroix, Dante, Wagner and Beethoven. <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Gillet, Louis, "Numéro spécial consacré à Henry de Groux", La Plume, no. 239-240, 1 - 15 April 1899, pp. 77-78. <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Edited by Rodolphe Rapetti and Pierre Wat, text established and annotated by Pierre Pinchon, Rodolphe Rapetti, Thomas Schlesser, Pierre Wat, with the collaboration of Anne-Elisabeth Lambert, Henry de Groux 1866-1930, Journal, Paris, Editions Kimé and INHA, 2007, 326 pages. Henry de GROUX (Brussels, 1866 - Marseille, 1930) 76.0 x 100.0 cm "Prometheus, the thief of fire, is punished on a rock, in the middle of a bloody Caspian: an ocean that is supposed to have reached cold altitudes, with all the colours of fire; the scarlets fight with the purples, the greens battle with the ochres, the blacks, defeated, retreat. White slime froths. Fire triumphs. These are the sublimities of colour that de Groux can achieve. He is still a painter on the stone itself. He has created astonishing figures. Prometheus is not bound to his rock by chains. His despondency rivets him to it. Eternally dazed and mouldering, he waits motionless for the fangs and claws of the vulture: he will not even lay his hands on the pink wound from which his exsanguinated entrails flow. With horror, he can make out the sound of approaching wings in the noise of the waves. But in his stubborn eyes lives a single idea: not to give in to the gods<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[1]</em></strong></a>." This eloquent description of our large canvas by the art historian Louis Gillet in 1899 conveys all the evocative power of Henry de Groux's work. Better known in France since the publication of his Journal by the INHA<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a>, the Belgian artist established himself as one of the most fascinating representatives of European Symbolism, through ambitious compositions featuring, as here, the great mythological or historical subjects, but also the masters of painting, literature and music, such as Delacroix, Dante, Wagner and Beethoven. <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Gillet, Louis, "Numéro spécial consacré à Henry de Groux", La Plume, no. 239-240, 1 - 15 April 1899, pp. 77-78. <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Edited by Rodolphe Rapetti and Pierre Wat, text established and annotated by Pierre Pinchon, Rodolphe Rapetti, Thomas Schlesser, Pierre Wat, with the collaboration of Anne-Elisabeth Lambert, Henry de Groux 1866-1930, Journal, Paris, Editions Kimé and INHA, 2007, 326 pages.